KTR questions silence of BJP, Congress over Polavaram cofferdam failure

Hyderabad: Referring to the Polavaram project, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Saturday slammed leaders of the Congress and BJP for what he described as their “double standards” on irrigation projects in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Referring to the cracks that appeared in two piers of the Medigadda barrage under the Kaleshwaram project, KTR said the opposition parties had been quick to term the development a “collapse.” In contrast, he pointed to the recent breach of the Polavaram cofferdam and questioned why national leaders had not shown the same level of outrage.

Polavaram suffered repeated setbacks: KTR

KTR stressed that the Polavaram project, being built with the support of the NDA government and granted national project status, had suffered repeated setbacks. “Hasn’t the collapse of the Polavaram cofferdam caught the eye of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA)?” he asked.

He accused BJP leaders of rushing the NDSA to Medigadda within 24 hours to criticise the BRS government in Telangana, while preferring silence when a project directly under the Union government’s supervision faced major structural failure.

“Why one yardstick for Kaleshwaram, which is Telangana’s lifeline, and another for Polavaram?” KTR asked, challenging both BJP and Congress leaders to show the same courage in questioning the central government about the Andhra project as they had in criticising Telangana.